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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Edmund Wilson say is the purpose of the social science?

2. What do cultures use from the mind, in Wilson's account?

3. Where do tangible phenomena evolve, according to consilience?

4. What does Edmund Wilson say is the logic behind consilience?

5. What is the problem with sociology, in Edmund Wilson's estimation?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does postmodern art resist consilience, in E.O. Wilson's account?

2. What role does the incest taboo have in genetic and cultural development?

3. What is the sign, in EO Wilson's account, that culture is evolving?

4. What is the fundamental assumption behind consilience?

5. What threats to contemporary culture does Wilson describe, and how is consilience useful in answering them?

6. What does Wilson say is the relationship between human genetics and the development of culture?

7. What social problems does Wilson say are caused by failures in social sciences?

8. What is the difference between nurturists and hereditarians in describing how culture evolves?

9. What does Wilson say the liberal arts should address?

10. What is the purpose of the social sciences, and how does Wilson distinguish the social sciences from the physical social sciences?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Are 'epi-genetic rules' really just another way of saying complex social factors that have to be experienced individually? Does Wilson really evade the complexity and individuality of experience and sensation and language use?

Essay Topic 2

What kinds of situations or uses would consilience be best for, and what kinds of knowledge or what situations would not benefit by a 'consilient' perspective? What are the limitations of Wilson's consilience? What are the strengths?

Essay Topic 3

European and American birth rates are relatively low compared to many developing countries. How do you reconcile this with Wilson's arguments about evolution, and how the expansion of power over territory allows the dissemination of genes? Has America's influence been genetic? How would you characterize its influence, and reconcile its influence with its low birth rates?

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